Unemployment Rate: Jobless Claims Drop by 12,000 from Last Week, Giving Total 350,000 Filing for Unemployment

Fewer people are filing for unemployment this during the holiday season, dropping jobless claims to the lowest levels since 2008.

Jobless claims fell by roughly 12,000 from the week before, according to new statistics this week by the U.S. Department of Labor. The new figures brought the number of people filing for unemployment down to about 350,000, down from last week's 362,000 job claims filed.

In addition, the four-week moving average, which is favored by most analysts as the figures smooth out the volatility in the weekly job claims figures, was recorded at 356,750, which is 11,250 from the previous week's revised average of 368,000.

Jobless claims experienced an unusual spike in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which rocked the East Coast in late October and caused billions of dollars in damages to homes and businesses along the eastern seaboard.

The new unemployment claim figures, according to CNN Money, reflect the lowest reading since March 2008.

Between those figures, some financial analysts are expressing confidence in the recovery of the economy.

"The economy is holding up just fine right now," Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economics at Renaissance Macro Research LLC in New York, told Bloomberg News. "Folks that are thinking there was going to be some cataclysmic economic shock to close out the year, I don't think that's right."

"If you could take the fiscal cliff off the table, if you could get the gorilla out of corner of the room, the platform for growth in 2013 is looking reasonably solid," added John Ryding, chief economist of RDQ Economics in New York. "But how do you get the gorilla out of the room? That's the problem."

Next week, the Labor Department will reveal how many jobs employers created in December; a figure that most economists are predicting will reflect a net gain of 150,000, which would be nearly exactly equal to the average monthly gain so far this year. 

Roughly 1.7 million jobs were added thus far in 2012.